New Jersey Devils: An Early Look At Line Combinations
Special Teams
Power Play 1
Bratt-Hischier-Johnsson
Palmieri-Butcher
This will be a strong unit for cycling the puck with crisp passing from all of them and Palmieri hovering at the top of the circle waiting for a one-timer. All the players up front have shots that the other team must respect or they will make them pay.
Power Play 2
Gusev-Zacha-Hughes
Subban-Smith
Zacha will be out there to win the faceoff and get to the net. His big body will be key in screening and keeping a defender occupied while Hughes, Goose, and Smith work magic on the boards and moving the puck around. If any of those players are chased with the slick hands they all have the Devils will open up the ice for a cross-ice one timer and get a big scoring chance. Subban will do what he can and sit there waiting for that instead of trying to QB it this time. Last season it did not work for him and the younger players are far better passers and quicker with the edgework needed. If he does not play well the spot will be open right away and Severson could slot in with ease.
Penalty Kill
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Zajac-Bastian(or McCleod if in the line up)
-This will be a solid pairing and this has been a big job for Zajac his whole career. Bastian has shown to be responsible and who better to learn from than Zajac? If he wants to solidify a spot for the long haul it will be doing the small things and playing on the penalty kill would give him a real NHL career. This season is short and with a building team now is the time to find out what we can about players.
Zacha-Bratt
-Both have proved they work well together and in this situation before.
Hischier-Palmieri
-Much like the last pair they have proven what they can do. Nico is a premier two-way center the league does not talk enough about the only reason his time should be limited here a little bit is that he needs to be playing so much 5v5 and on the powerplay.